Cornelius’ New Song “If You’re Here” Is Extremely Relaxing

Keigo Oyamada has kept busy over the past 11 years, but he’s often done so just outside of the spotlight. Since the artist better known as Cornelius released his last full-length, Sensuous in 2006, he’s played as a member of Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, and created soundtracks for an educational series about design and Ghost In The Shell: Arise. In these projects, and in his recent, high-profile collaborations with J-Pop singer Salyu and Japanese supergroup Metafive—his carefully constructed sound always stands out. Yet Oyamada has seemed content to blur into the background.

“If You’re Here,” the first song from Cornelius’ forthcoming album Mellow Waves, puts Oyamada back in the center, while revealing a few shifts to his approach. Many of the details pick up where Sensuous left off, from the warm synthesizer notes to the soft drum clips, to his love of accentuating his lyrics with, instrumentals that mimic their meaning (when he sings the Japanese word for “nervous heartbeat” a sudden cymbal crash mirrors the phrase perfectly). And he’s still interested in seeing how spacious he can make his music, with stretches here and there featuring only the slightest beat and synth, letting every detail stand out.

Yet “If You’re Here” doesn’t resemble the musical Rube Goldberg machines Oyamada constructed for his last two albums. While every detail of a song like “Wataridori” seems graphed out, “If You’re Here” is looser, as noises drift and spill onto each other. The lyrics underline this—written by Shintaro Sakamoto, they dwell on memories, the sort of sudden recollections that can make someone laugh one second, before switching to regret. Oyamada wrestles with both sides, over these six-plus minutes, and the music fittingly never settles into one groove, with guitar solos floating through and adding an improvised feel apt for a number about conflicting images of the past. Cornelius’ is back, but he’s using his music to look inward, even if that means letting things get a little messy.

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